Pipe Wrenches

The pipe wrench is perhaps one of the most recognizable tools, not just from the toolbox and because of its usefulness and ease of use, but also from popular culture, often portrayed either as a common tool for mechanics, plumbers and other professionals, or even as the bludgeoning weapon of choice in various movies and video games.

Pipe wrenches, also known as Stillson wrenches after their inventor, Daniel Stillson, can be categorized as adjustable wrenches. These types of handheld tools are, like other wrench types, used to apply torque to loosen or fasten nuts and bolts, as well as other fasteners, but unlike many wrenches, they have adjustable-size jaws, making a single adjustable wrench applicable to many different sizes of fasteners.

Given that they are made of different parts (and usually of aluminum, or steel), they can be easily repaired with replacement jaws and teeth without the extra expense of buying a new wrench. Although the term “monkey wrench” or “monkey spanner” (in British English) is commonplace in some places, it is not an accurate way of describing the category of pipe wrenches, of which the actual monkey wrench is one particular, older type that has generally fallen out of use.

A type of wrench somewhat similar to pipe wrenches is the plumber wrench, which is rather cumbersome and used almost exclusively by plumbers for the purpose of manipulating various pipes, in the event that more convenient wrenches are unusable for a particular task. Pipe wrenches, and other types of adjustable wrenches, should not be applied to nuts that are rounded off; for these types of fasteners, socket wrenches are the most appropriate tool.

We hope that you’ve found this website to have been informative and that, particularly for those who are new to wrenches and similar tools, it has provided an insight into the often complicated and technical, but nonetheless fascinating world of this very useful invention!